Adhesive Tape for Household Fixes

Make a lint-lifterTo lift lint and pet hair off clothing and upholstery, you don’t need a special lint remover. Just wrap your hand with adhesive tape, sticky side out.

Clean a combTo remove the gunk that builds up between the teeth of your comb, press a strip of adhesive tape along the comb’s length, and lift it off. Then dip the comb in a solution of alcohol and water, or ammonia and water, to sanitize it. Let dry.

Hang glue and caulk tubes
Got an ungainly heap of glue and caulk tubes on your workbench? Cut a strip of adhesive or duct tape several inches long and fold it over the bottom of each tube, leaving a flap at the end. Punch a hole in the flap with a paper hole punch and hang the tube on a nail or hook. You’ll free up counter space, and you’ll be able to find the right tube fast.

Safely remove broken window glass
Removing a window sash to fix a broken pane of glass can be dangerous; there’s always the possibility that a sharp shard will fall out and cut you. To prevent this, crisscross both sides of the broken pane with adhesive tape before removing the sash. And don’t forget to wear heavy leather gloves when you pull the glass shards out of the frame.

Get a grip on tools
Adhesive tape has just the right texture for wrapping tool handles. It gives you a positive, comfortable grip, and it’s highly absorbent so that tools won’t become slippery if your hand sweats. When you wrap tool handles, overlap each wrap by about half a tape width and use as many layers as needed to get the best grip. Here are some useful applications:

Screwdriver handles are sometimes too narrow and slippery to grip well when you drive or remove stubborn screws. Wrap layers of adhesive tape around the handle until the tool feels comfortable in your hand — this is especially useful if you have arthritis in your fingers.

Take a tip from carpenters who wrap wooden hammer handles that can get slippery with sweat. Wrap the whole gripping area of the tool. A few wraps just under the head will also protect the handle from damage caused by misdirected blows.

Plumbers also keep adhesive tape in their tool kits: When they want to cut a pipe in a spot that’s too tight for their hacksaw frame, they make a mini-hacksaw by removing the blade and wrapping one end of the blade to form a handle.